Consumer requests for Video on Demand, high definition content, and DOCSIS® 3.0 data services is consuming ever-increasing amounts of network capacity. Also, the pursuit of “green” business practices has become desirable. Cable operators are able to increase network bandwidth significantly, while simultaneously lowering energy consumption and improving operational efficiency, by driving fiber deeper into the network and reducing the number of homes served per node, for example, from 500 to 2,000 homes in a traditional hybrid fiber coax (HFC) architecture to typically around 100 homes.
By pushing fiber deeper into the network, typically within a few hundred feet of the subscribers' homes, the optical-to-electrical conversion of downstream signals occurs much closer to subscribers' homes, which eliminates the need for RF amplifiers in the coax plant, thereby achieving significant green benefits. With the length of the coaxial cable runs shortened, that portion of the network becomes entirely passive. As this reduces the size of node service areas, it in turn results in an increase of the narrowcast bandwidth available to individual subscribers.
Conventional construction methods for installing fiber optic micro cable deeper into the network require digging, trenching, boring, and restoration. Such methods impact customer landscaping, lawns, and other utilities including water, power, and gas lines.
More recently, alternative fiber deployment techniques have been developed whereby cable operator coaxial cables are converted to fiber-optic cables, which allows the operator to deploy fiber deeper in the network. These techniques remove the dielectric and center conductor of a hardline coax cable, while leaving the aluminum shield of the hardline coax in place for use as a conduit or micro-duct for installing fiber optic micro cable. These alternative deployment techniques are at substantially lower cost than traditional boring and trenching and take a fraction of the time. By avoiding digging, trenching, boring, and restoration, impacts to customer landscaping, lawns, and other utilities including water, power, and gas lines are avoided.
These alternative techniques typically involve attaching a hydraulic fitting to an end of an existing coax cable and injecting a biodegradable soap solution into the coax under pressure. This fluid compresses the foam core, breaking it from the shield, and pushes it out the far end. The remaining aluminum shield of the hardline coax is cleaned and then used as a conduit or micro-duct for installing fiber optic micro cable. These techniques are referred to as high pressure coax core ejection and fiber optic cable injection (“coax ejection and fiber injection techniques”).
In order to create longer continuous lengths of hollowed-out coax cables, separate spans of coax cables that terminate at a pedestal or other splice point can be connected by plastic (e.g., high density polyethylene (HDPE)) tubing and airtight fittings. The plastic innerduct can later be cut, and the fiber optic cable can be terminated with appropriate fiber connectors for the network.
The coax ejection and fiber injection techniques require a special connector to be attached to the end of the coax cable to accommodate the hydraulic fitting used in the core ejection process and another special connector to facilitate injection of the fiber optic cable. Still another connector is required for connecting the plastic tubing to the aluminum shield of the hardline coax remaining after the coax ejection.
It may be desirable to provide a connector for use in coax ejection and fiber injection techniques that can accommodate the hydraulic fitting, facilitate injection of the fiber optic cable, and connect the plastic tubing to the aluminum shield. It may also be desirable to provide a connector that includes a washer for holding a hardline cable in place and preventing the cable from backing out of the connector. Also, it may be desirable to provide a washer that maintains an electrical ground from the hardline cable to a body of the connector even when other parts of the connector are not fully secured.